Tools for video on the web

You can upload your content to a hosting server like Youtube or Vimeo and let them worry about compression and delivery

Compress and upload your video files to your server and assume the cost and the consequences
We will work on the second idea, hosting our own video and dealing with storage, transmission and accessibility considerations.

Creating and using HTML5 video

While not essential to video compression, it is important to know how to create the tags HTML5 video uses to put video on the page

The Video chapter from Dive into HTML5 provides a good introduction on the subject and will save us from detailed explanations here.

What you need to know

The size of video files can be reduced by changing one or bot of the following:

The codec you choose to use. Some codecs work better than others at a given bitrate

The dimensions of the file. Larger sizes usually take higher bitrates to maintain quality

The bitrate (how many bits does it take to render a second of video) the higher the bitrate the larget the size of the video file

What codec to use

The choice of codecs is influenced by your target platforms and licensing considerations.

In the list below the number indicates the earliest version of the browser that supported the codec. I’m assuming that later versions will support the codec as well.

One of the biggest considerations when working with MPEG-4/H.264 and most MPEG formats is that they are emcumbered by patents. The licensing is different depending on whether you’re using the codec for commercial or non-comercial work, whether you’re streaming or not and how many subscribers access your content.

Bitrate

Video data rates are given in bits per second. The data rate for a video file is the bitrate. So a data rate specification for video content that runs at 1 megabyte per second would be given as a bitrate of 8 megabits per second (8 mbps). The bitrate for an HD Blu-ray video is typically in the range of 20 mbps, standard-definition DVD is usually 6 mbps, high-quality web video often runs at about 2 mbps, and video for phones is typically given in the kilobits (kbps). For example, these are the targets we usually see for H.264 streaming:

Sorenson Squeeze

Sorenson Squeeze is my option when I need the most felixbility and am willing to pay the cost both in terms of money (it is comercial software) and learning curve (the price you pay for the flexibility you get.)

I don’t recommend this as a beginner or even intermediate tool. Squeeze, more than the other tools discussed require a lot of experimentation or prior knowledge in order to use corectly. Once you settle on a preset, using Squeeze is as simple as Miro.

In my opinion where Squeeze shines is the creation of multiple bitrate files for Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming, Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming, or DASH.